


Breaking Through

by Wishfulthinking1979



Series: The Fox and the Lady [6]
Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Developing Friendships, Friendship, Hurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:48:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26742406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wishfulthinking1979/pseuds/Wishfulthinking1979
Summary: Luke has decided that while patience is a virtue, sometimes he needs to take a page from his Father's book.
Relationships: CC-1010 and Luke Skywalker
Series: The Fox and the Lady [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1918327
Comments: 10
Kudos: 64





	Breaking Through

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ktulu1347](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ktulu1347/gifts).



> This was fun to write. And we're not done with Fox's issues by a long shot. But he needs someone in his corner. More, he needs to know that it's good to have someone in your corner. 
> 
> Gifting to Ktulu1347 who has been such an encourager in my writing journey. Thank you!!

Luke stood at the edge of the bay and watched as Fox drilled his men. The clone Commander was as cool and competent as he ever had been.

But he’d stopped having water with Luke after these training sessions. He was very adept at avoiding the young Jedi, and had been doing so ever since Avery’s death a month ago. 

Everyone was still recovering from that mission. 

In many ways it had been a wildly successful campaign to cripple the Black Sun in this part of the galaxy. Approving noises had been made from numerous star systems at the vigorous way the New Republic was striving to rid the galaxy of slavers and pirates. 

In fact, Luke knew that plans were already underway for an extended mission to apprehend the main child trafficking ring which centered its operations around an event at Eriadu. Their intel said they had some months to prepare which was good because after this, all of them needed time to recover in numerous ways.

The Admiral looked haunted and Luke could guess at the reason, but didn’t feel it was his place to ask him about it. Veers was strained, both on behalf of his friend and also due to the loss of Avery on his detail. In his way, the General had liked the kid as well. 

Luke’s Father was away from the Lady at the moment as he did more research for the next campaign they were all preparing for. 

And their clone commander, who had just seemed to be finding his place and creating a team, was adrift once more. Oh he did his job adroitly, and his men were getting very good at their jobs of protecting their officers.

But Fox could have been an empty suit of armor for all the interaction he did with anyone.

This had been deeply discouraging to Luke after the progress he’d made with the man.

_ And why did that bother him so? _ _  
  
_

Luke couldn’t explain why he liked the man. Certainly he was a challenge, but Luke was always up for a challenge. Perhaps that was it? Fox was the most challenging man to attempt to befriend since Veers. The General was starting to look easy compared to Fox, however.

Was it that he had known Luke’s Father before….Vader? 

It made Luke wonder about the rest of the 501st. He knew there were some original troopers there still. And it had been a difficult realization to have---that there were men here who had known Luke’s Father as Anakin before Luke was born. Men that Anakin had abandoned when he succumbed to the wiles of Darth Sidious. 

One of them had once mentioned a ‘Captain Rex’. They hadn’t meant for Luke to overhear. He wondered who that was. And while Luke and his Father had had many difficult conversations about the past, he somehow sensed that the time was not right for him to ask Anakin about his service with the 501st. Because that got too close to Obi-Wan.

And that wound was as deep as Padme’. 

There was still so much healing to do for all these damaged people. So much of their struggles could indeed be traced to Palpatine’s crushing empire. But some…..some were for other reasons.

Leia was not one to betray a confidence, but Luke had picked up that Piett’s background had been sufficiently terrible in the Outer Rim long before he served the Empire.

Han had struggled all his life to just survive, though he tried to be cavalier about it.

And Fox. Fox had been created in a lab. With millions of others just like him. To be, as he had so callously put it recently--- ‘cannon fodder’. And  _ that _ had been at the behest of Jedi. Like himself.

So Luke was not altogether surprised that Fox was avoiding him.

But. Luke was stubborn. A family trait indeed. And he didn’t like to see a good man go to waste. Fox was not just going to survive for a while and then die. Not if Luke could do something about it. For some reason the clone had decided that he wanted to serve the New Republic. Even though he clearly had issues with Luke’s Father, he still desired to do his utmost to serve this government. He was clearly willing to put his life on the line for them all. 

Surely there was something in there, buried under his fatalistic cynicism, that longed for belonging? For connection? Luke believed so.

So he began anew.

He left water on the crates, but made sure to be absent when Fox finished training.

He consistently invited Fox to join him for dinner in one of the mess halls. He never got a reply.

He offered to help with any training, but received a polite refusal.

So Luke switched tactics.

He studied Fox’s habits for awhile. He learned that the clone commander was unsurprisingly regular in the practices of each day. 

This typically ended with Fox heading to one of the gyms that the army frequented.

All right then. He was getting nowhere by being patient. So he would take a page from his Father’s book and meet this problem head on. A few words in the right ears---some favors promised, and Luke was alone in the gym, waiting, when Fox stumped in, already attired in his gym clothes.

The clone commander froze for just a moment and looked at Luke, casually seated on a bench facing the entrance. 

“Commander Fox,” he said calmly, “you’ve been avoiding me.”

Fox narrowed his eyes.

“It’s a free galaxy I’ve been told, Skywalker. I don’t need to explain my actions to you.”

“Of course, sir,” Luke replied. “I’m not here for that. I was hoping that you could help me.”

He could tell this threw the man off course as he had intended. He still wasn’t altogether sure he should be doing this, but…..chalk it up to the Skywalker genes he supposed. He had started and he was going to go all the way down this path. He hoped it would both help Fox and answer things for himself.

“Skywalker…..if this is your misguided attempt to ‘befriend’ me, let me tell you now…”

“I do want to be your friend, sir, that is true,” Luke replied. Honesty was mostly the best policy here. “But I’m also here for some answers. I think you might help give them to me.”   
  


He saw the moment that the clone commander understood.

“Oh nine hells no. I am not getting involved in ‘what do you remember about my dad?’ poodoo.”

“Fair enough,” Luke returned mildly and took a breath to play his key card. “What can you tell me about Obi-Wan Kenobi?”

He’d floored Fox once more.

“Damn it, Skywalker. I came here for a workout!”

“I can give you that, sir,” said Luke, rising and giving in fully to his Skywalker impulses. His green blade snapped into being.

“Care for a challenge, Commander?”

Fox actually gaped at him and it was the first time Luke had seen that expression on the clone’s face. 

“Are you out of your _kriffing_ mind  _ jetii _ ?”

“No, sir,” Luke replied seriously. “We both have some things to deal with. Did you want your blaster sir?”

Fox muttered something Luke didn’t catch and reached into his duffel for his cherished DC-17s. Luke had been confident he wouldn’t be without them. 

“Stun setting?” He asked, gripping them and getting into ready stance.

“Only if you like,” Luke said. He had to mean it all the way with the commander if he was to get through the way he hoped. 

“Copaani mirshmure’cye, vod?” muttered Fox. 

And Luke was pleased to see him rise to the challenge.

“We’re going to destroy this gym,” Fox told him.

“I’ll apologize to the Admiral,” Luke said, and attacked.

Fox was terrifically fast, whipping his weapons up and firing swiftly (both at the same time and both hands equally skilled). Luke had to work hard to deflect the shots and then gathered himself to flip over Fox’s head.

“Using the Force advantage there, Skywalker?” Fox ground out, flinging himself away with excellent reflexes and firing again.

“Did you want a challenge or not?” Luke queried with a wide grin, his lightsaber humming with deadly purpose as he deflected the shots to the opposite wall. 

Piett would  _ not _ be pleased. So far however, the Lady seemed to be allowing it. 

“Kaysh mirsh solus,” spat Fox.

“That didn’t sound complimentary,” Luke said, battle adrenaline singing. 

“Because it wasn’t,  _ boy _ .”

Good. The clone was losing his cool. The first step to getting him to speak.

“It’s been a while since I was referred to that way,” Luke told him. 

“Put your jetii weapon down and face me as a man then,” Fox snarled. 

“Getting tired of missing then, Commander?”

Luke received wordless anger in the Force as both of them tossed their weapons to the side, and Fox was coming at him. 

Luke used his Force enhanced muscles to leap above Fox’s attack. The clone pivoted and reached to grab Luke’s left leg as he came down and----- _ that was not bad for someone without the Force.  _

Luke crashed to the mats and Fox was on him in a flash. Luke shoved at him, and the man seemed slightly surprised at the power in the action as it sent him away from Luke by a good twenty feet. 

The commander rolled to his feet and Luke flipped up to his.

“You realize that I would have pinned or killed you long ago without your powers, Skywalker,” Fox panted.

Luke smiled again. “Good thing I have powers then, isn’t it?”

He could sense the confusion in Fox.

“Are you trying to piss me off, Commander? Because…”

“I’m  _ trying _ ,” Luke stressed, “to have a conversation with you. Because I think you might be the only one who can give me some information. Things I can’t even get my Father to discuss.”

He dodged another swift attack from Fox.

“I want to know why he won’t discuss Obi-Wan with me. From what I understand of your record, you were with my Father both before and after he became Darth Vader.”

He felt the surge of rage from the clone as he said that.

“I told you….” Fox kicked at him and Luke sprang away. “....I am not discussing your _Father_ , Skywalker!”

“Not asking that. Tell me about Kenobi.”

“I didn’t work that closely with him! Ooof!” Luke tackled him this time and sent them both to the mat. 

“You guarded Palapatine for kriff’s sake!” Luke insisted. “They were around him too!”

“I ran into….” Fox rolled away to his feet again. “....Senator Amidala more often!”

And Luke froze on his knees.

_ Didn’t see that coming. _

Fox stopped as well and finally looked at Luke---really looked at him for the first time in a long while.

“Of course,” he whispered _. He'd been so intent on getting the man to talk about Obi-Wan, there was one more person he'd known.._.... “Of course you would have, because the Senate….she worked there...I forgot….” And Luke was overwhelmed with the monstrous injustice of it all. That Fox had known his parents better than Luke ever had. Better than he ever  _ would _ in his mother’s case. 

It was quiet.

“Oh _damn_ it, Skywalker,” sighed Fox. “I can’t be your source here.”

“Who else then?” Luke demanded, slowing rising from his knees and putting out a hand for his weapon. He sent Fox’s blasters to him with the Force as well.

The clone commander gave him a long look before he took them out of the air.

“Ask your kriffing Father….”   
  


“I have. My Father can barely speak about either of them. But Obi-Wan more than…more than my Mother.”   
  


“Why  _ me _ ?” Fox asked, seating himself heavily on a bench. 

“Because you were THERE!” Luke cried suddenly. “You’re one of the only people left to me who was there, when it was just Anakin Skywalker and Padme’ Amidala! Who could have looked at Obi-Wan Kenobi in his prime, and not as an emotionally destroyed old man!! Commander Fox….even now, you know more about my Father than I do!”

He stopped. He had not expected to lose control like that.

“And you were there for…...Order 66,” Luke continued and Fox flinched. “Commander,” Luke pressed ruthlessly, “did you know that Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader?”

  
  


*****

Well, when the kid unleashed he really went for it. 

For the longest while, he’d assumed the younger male Skywalker was more like his mother. To be fair he still was--- and the princess was  _ very _ similar to her Father. But it didn’t mean the twins were bereft of various traits from their respective parents. 

Tonight the kid had given in to the Skywalker recklessness. But he was at core, Padme’ Amidala’s son, and he was kind. Ultimately, he was a young man who was desperate to know his origins.

“Yes,” Fox told him bluntly, because that’s who he was and this was no damn therapy session. He didn’t do gentle.

“Yes, I knew. And….in the process of your Father trying to kill me, my chip malfunctioned and I had my autonomy.”

He took some satisfaction in causing the young Jedi to stare at him. The kid had thrown him off all evening, it was his turn to be caught off guard.

“He…”

“We were chasing a surviving Jedi and my men somehow mistook your Father for a Jedi himself. Fired at him. You know how he was then. I had to be held responsible. Something threw him off while he was choking me and I fell. When I came to, he was gone and I knew I had to leave the capitol.”

Skywalker blew out a breath and then motioned to the bench. “May I…?”

“Fine.”

They were both quiet again.

“Sometimes I feel I should walk around with a pile of cards to hand out. ‘I’m sorry Darth Vader hurt you’, “ the younger man said. “I’ll be spending the rest of my life saying that I’m sure.”

He was probably right.

“Well in my case, it was likely the thing that set me free from that Sith bastard, so maybe I should send your Father a thank you.”

Skywalker looked at him a moment with those blue eyes and suddenly leaned over his knees to laugh.

“You communicating with my Father at all, much less to say ‘thank you’ is quite the image, Commander.”

Fox nodded in agreement. “Yeah don’t worry---it’s not going to happen.”

The Jedi paused again. 

“Look, Commander, you appreciate bluntness, correct?”   
  


“Like stepping on a Jawa with a Bantha, kid.”

The blonde commander smiled at the image.

“All right then. I know you’ve avoided me. But we’re a good team. I enjoy working with you. And….and I’m not Avery.”

Fox shifted. Kriff, it hurt every time to hear the kid’s name.

“My point being... that I am a Jedi. I have ways to protect myself that he didn’t. So if you don’t want to be around me because you just can’t stand me---fine. But if this is what I think it is---you deciding that no relationships are better than losing friends---well that’s poodoo, sir. And you’re robbing us both. That’s all.”

He rose and made for the door. 

Fox considered.

“Skywalker.”

The Jedi turned.

“I’m still not interested in some misguided therapy session. We just get on with it. But….”

He grinned suddenly, knowing both that he liked the kid and that what he proposed would piss off the Father.

“...you want another sparring session like this, I’m game.”

And the young man’s smile was blinding. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> * Copaani mirshure'cye, vod--Are you looking for a smack in the face, mate?
> 
> * Kaysh mirsh solus--his brain cell is lonely
> 
> (Many thanks to Morwen of Gondor for the Mandalorian expressions!)


End file.
